Welsh Liberal Democrats

FOI reveals no business case for purchase of Cardiff Airport

January 11, 2013 12:17 PM

The Welsh Labour Government does not have a business case for purchasing Cardiff Airport, according to a Freedom of Information Request by the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

When asked for a copy of a business case for the purchase, and a copy of any preliminary plans for development of the airport in relation to its purchase, the Welsh Government responded by saying that is has checked its "records and can confirm that the Welsh Government does not hold any information which fits the description given in your request."

Since the Welsh Labour Government first announced its intentions to buy Cardiff Airport, multiple concerns have been raised that the decision had been rushed and the Welsh Labour Government cannot prove its value for money.

"We now have confirmation that the Welsh Labour Government has no idea why they are buying the airport and no idea what they are going to do with it - it is beyond a farce.

"The Welsh Labour Government has once again been caught playing fast and loose with public money. You do not buy first and then develop a business case to prove that you were right later. You only do that if you have been backed into a corner and are being forced to justify the decisions that you have taken.

"We were told that the nationalisation of Cardiff Airport was in the best interests of Wales. We now know that the Welsh Labour Government has no evidence that this is the case.

"The Welsh Liberal Democrats would not be opposed to this move if the result was Wales getting a better airport, but what we've learnt today is that the Welsh Labour Government hasn't even considered whether the deal provides value for money or what improvements could be made. Instead, this is purely about dogma for them.

"I had expected the Welsh Government to say that it wouldn't release this information due to commercial confidentiality, but to explicitly state that it doesn't actually have any of these document is truly staggering."